Pros
The pay is decent and the training is industry leading. Working for State Farm alone will open lots of doors for you. There are a lot of benefits that they refer to as "total rewards" and they have a credit union that offers great rates and are lenient on credit.
Cons
There is a serious lack of leadership, plenty of managers yet a leader is hard to come by. The company is obviously recruiting a candidate that will likely remain in the lower ranks, entry level, mediocre positions. You'll see the billboards with tattooed, alternative people. One of the quotes says, "looking for employees with <style>." This is good and well but from a marketing background, they're seeking warm bodies with no intention to move them into the upper ranks like they will preach to you the WHOLE first week of training during their "onboarding" and also throughout every meeting with your manager. The express environment is new and it's a cluster, lots of inefficiencies, nobody knows what they are doing, none of the decisions make sense and this will likely be the case for the next 3 to 10 years. Your manager will have never done your job so be prepared to know more than your direct supervisor. Many of the managers are finishing their careers so they don't care about anything but burning time until retirement. The pay is considerably lower than similar jobs with other insurance carriers. The workload is high and the company only adds to that. What started out as low complexity, high volume claims become increasingly complicated with no pay increase or gratitude. It's become a slave ship. Be prepared to be on the phones 24/7 and expected to perform your job with unrealistic standards. The metrics don't make sense and are not consistent. There is little to no transparency with the company and low level managers will not go to bat for anyone other than themselves. There are a few great leaders but they're rare. The company moves at a snails pace to male any corrections that are severely needed and results in severe employed dissatisfaction and leaves employees no option but to cut corners just like the "problem" offices. It's easier to use the experience to get a better position (with better pay) elsewhere versus getting promoted. The feedback when interviewing for internal positions is a joke, it's highly automated and often comes back with the wrong name proving that it's impersonal and not intended to be helpful. You will not get a straight answer from anyone, this is the land of "let me get back to you on that," which never happens. If you persist, you're labeled a problem and in my experience, management turns their back on you. The go to tactic is to prevent you from posting for other positions internally for any reason, this is often done privately between you and your direct manager and can't be avoided. The company gives you ample sick time but don't use more than a few days (the less the better). Managers are given the power to decide what is excessive in regard to absences and it's very subjective. I had one manager who didn't care about sick time and understood that I worked a lot of overtime and was reliable so he knew I wasn't calling in to save my vacation time (which is also very generous in quantity). My second manager decided I took to mani sick days and prevented me from posting for other opportunities. I'm not disgruntled, I am simply providing an honest review. Do I feel cheated? Absolutely! I spent a year and a half here so far and have been a top performer for most of that time yet I have no prospects to move up so I'm working on moving out. I get constant recognition from peers and others in the company but zero recognition from my direct manager or the manager above him. I believe I've said enough so with that, beware. It could be great or a nightmare. I'd say after the year 2020, the company will likely have worked the kinks out, the dinosaurs will have retired and the few hardworking people who started at the bottom and stuck it out will have made it to middle management. It's unfortunate that I have to write this, I don't believe it's indicative of State Farm in the grand scheme of things but it's this new accurate description of the current state of the company? You betcha.